Ling Jun Wang and his team have carried out a first order ether drift experiment over a period of two years. The signal to noise ratio of our first order experiment is four orders of magnitude greater than that of the second order experiments. The rotational velocity and the orbital velocity of the earth, and the galactic orbital velocity of the solar system with respect to the ether have been measured to be, respectively, 0.051 km/s, -0.19 km/s and 0.30 km/s, with a statistical error of 0.94 km/s. These velocities are merely 14%, 0.6% and 0.15% of the kinetic velocities of the earth and the solar system with respect to the Milky Way. The results show that the ether drift velocity with respect to the earth is zero well within experimental uncertainty. Since this uncertainty is greater than the velocity due to Earth’s rotation, the experimental error needs to be further reduced to establish the “null result” with respect to Earth’s rotation beyond doubt. Our experiment is fundamentally different in principle from the traditional ether drift experiments based on the interference of light. In particular, our experiment is free of the fringe running problems during the rotation of the interferometer, and therefore contributes a truly independent experiment from the interference experiments.

We demonstrate a high-power high-beam-quality ultraviolet (UV) laser at 330 nm based on fourth-harmonic generation (FHG) of a diode-side-pumped 1319-nm Nd:YAG laser. A 23.2-W Q-switched Nd:YAG laser at 1319 nm with beam quality factor M²=1.15 was employed as the fundamental pump source. First, the output at 1319 nm was frequency doubled to 660 nm in an LBO crystal with an average output power of 11.3 W. Then, the SHG beam was frequency doubled again in another LBO crystal to obtain the FHG output at 330 nm. The maximum average output power at 330 nm was up to 7 W, and the beam quality factor M² was 1.45 with 1 kHz operation repetition rate and ~53 ns pulse width. A total conversion efficiency was 30.2% from infrared to UV. This is the first 330-nm UV source generation from a diode-side-pumped frequency-quadrupled 1319-nm Nd:YAG laser. The UV 330 nm laser centered at 30, 272.51 cm^-1 (λ=330.333 nm) with a linewidth of Δυ=3.5 GHz is suitable to excite the ³S_1/2-⁴ P_3/2 sodium transition, which can be applied in producing polychromatic laser guide star to increase the sky coverage using adaptive optics in large telescopes.

Moreover, a vacuum UV laser at 165 nm with 6.8 mW was realized by frequency-doubling of the 330 nm laser, which is almost the shortest VUV wavelength through SHG with KBe₂BO₃F₂ (KBBF) crystal. An angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) with thus higher photon energy (7.52 eV) VUV 165 nm laser may be able to reach larger momentum space and enhanced bulk sensitivity in probing the electronic structure of solids.

The theory of acoustic and electromagnetic (EM) wave scattering by one and many small impedance particles of arbitrary shapes is developed. The basic assumptions are: a << d <<λ, where ‘a’ is the characteristic size of particles, ‘d’ is the smallest distance between the neighboring particles, ‘λ’ is the wavelength.

This theory allows one to give a recipe for creating materials with a desired refraction coefficient.

• One can create material with negative refraction: the group velocity in this material is directed opposite to the phase velocity.
• One can create a material with a desired permeability.
• Equation is derived for the EM field in the medium in which many small impedance particles are embedded.
• Similar results are obtained in [6] for heat transfer in the media in which many small particles are distributed.

The aim of this work was to apply the LIBS technique for the analysis of fly ash and bottom ash resulting from the coal combustion in a coal fired power plant. The steps of presented LIBS analysis were pelletizing of powdered samples, firing with laser and spectroscopic detection. The analysis “on tape” was presented as an alternative fast sampling approach. This procedure was compared with the usual steps of normalized chemical analysis methods for coal which are coal calcination, fluxing in high temperature plasma, dilution in strong acids and analyzing by means of ICP-OES and/or AAS.First, the single pulse LIBS approach was used for determination and quantification of elemental content in fly ash and bottom ash on the exit of the boiler. For pellet preparation, ash has to be mixed with proper binder to assure the sample resistance. Preparation of the samples (binder selection and pressing/pelletizing conditions) was determined and LIBS experimental conditions optimized. No preparation is necessary in “on tape” sampling. Moreover, double-pulse approach in orthogonal reheating configuration was applied to enhance the repeatability and precision of the LIBS results and to surpass the matrix effect influencing the calibration curves in case of some elements.Obtained results showed that LIBS responses are comparable to the normalized analytical methods. Once optimized the experimental conditions and features, application of LIBS may be a promising technique for combustion process control even in on-line mode. 

Non-healthcare industries have used a wide spectrum of energy-based systems for many different purposes, from microchip manufacturing to artist creations, but few have been exploited by surgeons. Although many technologies are large and sophisticated image-guided systems that provide precise targeting at the molecular and atomic level, new emerging technologies are small, hand-held portable systems. Thus, many time-honored surgical procedures will be performed as outpatient or office procedures, providing new opportunities for photonics in the clinical realm. A more disruptive change of the next revolution is directed energy for diagnosis and therapy (DEDAT), taking surgery to the final step – non-invasive surgery. Combining experience in lasers, photo-biomodulation, image guided surgery and robotic surgery, there are new energy-based technologies which provide the control and precision of photonic energy that enable operating (non-invasively) at the cellular and molecular level. The evidence that has been building from the multiple disciplinary fields of photonics, computer assisted surgery, genetic engineering and molecular biology communities (Radiology, Surgery, Plasma Medicine, Molecular Biology, the Human Genome) will be presented, including technologies beyond photonics such as high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU), terahertz imaging and therapeutics – to name a few. Though still in its infancy, DEDAT is but the tip of the iceberg that heralds the transition to non-invasive surgery. Such systems are based upon the premise that directed energy can bring precision, speed and reliability - especially as surgery ‘descends’ into operating at the cellular and molecular level. Nobel Laureate Richard Feynman was right – there is “plenty of room at the bottom”.